Bugs and security issues will be addressed for the last two minor releases of a supported major version.

VMware Horizon FLEX Server

18 months

1 year

N/A

VMware Horizon Mobile

3 years

2 years

N/A

VMware Horizon View and (VMware View)

5 years

2 years

Support periods are defined for releases of the View Connection Server. Most View Clients are versioned and shipped separately from View Connection Server releases, and are only supported under the terms of the server releases they are compatible with. While a server release is within its general support phase, new versions of existing clients will maintain backward compatibility with that supported server release. However it should be noted that features in newer releases will not be supported with older versions. The intent is to maintain the basic functionality of the oldest version without breaking compatibility.

VMware Mirage

3 years

2 years

N/A

VMware ThinApp

3 years

2 years

N/A

VMware User Environment Manager

2 years

1 year

N/A

VMware Workspace Portal

3 years

2 years

Starting with version 2.1, VMware has extended the general support phase for Workspace Portal to 3 years from a major release and the technical guidance phase to 2 years.

Q: Has General Support for View 4.6 been extended?

A: Yes. Under the previous lifecycle policy, General Support for View 4 (including View 4.6) ended in November, 2012, (3 years after the General Availability of View 4.0). The lifecycle policy effective July 2012 has been retroactively applied to View 4, so its General Support phase has been extended to November 2014. VMware will continue to provide 4.6.x maintenance releases as needed up until that point. Two years of Technical Guidance will follow General Support, as per the current policy.

Q: How will fixes/updates be distributed for View Clients?

A: Critical bug or security fixes for Clients will only be supplied via an update to the latest Client version; it should be noted that some Clients are only available through device-specific App-Stores, and maintenance of older client versions on such devices is impossible.

Q: Will all the features of a new client release be available when running it against an older server version?

A: No. When an existing client is updated to a new version, it will remain compatible with older server versions that are still within the General Support phase. However, new client features may be disabled while connected to an older server. For example, a client that is updated while VMware View 5.1 is available will still work with a server from VMware View 4.6, but a feature that was newly introduced in VMware View 5.1 will not necessarily be expressed in the client.

Q: When a new client type is first made available, will it be compatible with older server versions?

A: Server backward compatibility for new client types is provided at VMware’s discretion. When a brand new client type is released, it will be compatible with the latest shipping server version. VMware will not necessarily support running that new client against older server releases. For example, assume a brand new kind of tablet device (not iOS nor Android based) was released by a hardware vendor; if VMware created a brand new client type for the new device while VMware View 5.1 was available, client compatibility would be supported against VMware View 5.1, but not necessarily VMware View 5.0 or VMware View 4.6 versions.

Q: When a new minor release comes out, how long with updates continue to be shipped for the preceding version?

A: Within the General Support phase, access to server, and guest OS updates, bug and security fixes will require a software update to the latest minor release version if said minor release has been generally available for more than 60 days. For example, if a critical bug is discovered in VMware View 5.0 and VMware View 5.1 has been available for more than 60 days, the fix for said bug will require an update to VMware View 5.1 or a subsequent 5.1.x maintenance release.

Q: How are minor and maintenance releases affected when General Support ends for their associated major release?

A: When General Support ends for a Major Release, it also ends for all Minor and Maintenance releases within that Major Release family. For example, VMware View 4.0 was released in November 2009. Under this policy, General Support for the VMware View 4 family ends in November 2014. As of July 2012, VMware View 4.6.x maintenance releases may still be supplied to address critical bug and security issues. However, as of November 2014, the entire VMware View 4 family will move from General Support to 2 years of Technical Guidance and no additional VMware View 4.6.x maintenance releases or 4.6.x derived hot-patches will be supplied.